READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 301. Holiday (2)
“Next time we meet, tell Mr. Kim Gi-ryeo to try making some friends.”
“……”
Such a pushy marriage proposal.
Not meddling in my love life either.
It was just my peculiar little brother’s concern that he had no friends and a suggestion to expand his social circle.
“Oppa…….”
The woman with purple hair quietly listened to the other person and then furrowed her brows.
And then she calmly said,
“I hit men too…….”
That was a warning not to speak foolishly if one wanted to stay in one piece.
Still, my younger sibling reacts well like this. How can I brush it off as a sibling?
“Hey, I keep saying you can’t just hit anyone, alright?”
The assaults are frequent.
The grudges are long.
The insides are rotting.
Yet, in some corner, my kind younger sibling always tilts the scales in favor of the weak and ordinary.
Just grateful that the family came into this world.
“Manager Seo Yo-han, if you have time to joke around, shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Today is my day off too.”
Seo Yo-han spent this precious moment in conversation with his younger sibling.
– Zzzzz.
【Korea Hunter Association☎】
“What? The association is calling at this hour……?”
It’s the Gate Era.
So, their boring daily lives quickly vanished.
*
A little later.
“I was about to take a nap!”
An S-Class Hunter flew in with eyebrows flapping using a Movement Artifact called “Hayangsae.”
“Now, if only I could take a nap in peace.”
How is it that on a day off, another incident is happening?
Fifteen minutes earlier.
A message was received on Seo Esther’s phone reporting a big incident in the Seoul Representative Business District, where various large corporations are headquartered.
When asked about the nature of this incident, it turned out to be just a warning for a break of an A-Class Blue Gate.
“Ugh.”
However, contrary to what she thought, it was quite serious.
Giant insects living in the Gate suddenly accelerating.
Moreover, multiplying in enormous numbers to the point where no one could dare to enter.
This was an anomaly that could not be explained by human science.
‘Dungeon Error…….’
It’s frustrating.
But simply being in a bad mood couldn’t justify ignoring this incident.
The monsters popping out as a break this time were flying creatures, which required long-distance Awakening abilities to intercept.
What kind of mess would a Hunter like Jeong Ha-seong make battling in close quarters?
A skill with the property of [Curse] hardly affects physical objects.
However, in modern society, depending on the conditions, that limitation could be a benefit.
No need to look far for examples.
Just like right now.
‘Sigh.’
Upon arriving at the scene of the incident.
Esther looks around.
‘When I was young, I once thought that disgusting thing was pretty.’
The downtown area, where office workers in suits used to walk, had turned into a hellish road.
As she arrived, it was anticipated that the Dungeon’s explosion would occur faster. A rush of A-Class Awakened gathered to place a new ceiling on the monsters, but…….
“Isn’t this a bit cramped for you guys?”
Flap, flap, flap.
Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings echoed from all directions.
In this business district with defense skill holders, there was a giant butterfly the size of a baby whale.
【Attack Type Morpho】
[Grade: A]
[Info: Usually relatively docile, but instantly fires beams when stimulated by skills or physical attacks.]
Esther raised her hostility, making sure they couldn’t run rampant anymore.
Reminded that this beautiful butterfly eats people and disrupts our daily lives, she pulled it down one by one with curses.
“Ugh, this is annoying! How am I supposed to clean this up with these monsters out of the Dungeon?”
Just then, while she was smoothly killing the butterfly-shaped monsters.
From behind, a particularly small monster inadvertently fell into the curse range.
-!
The dungeon’s leader, the bait Morpho, emitted a suspicious light.
“What the?”
She quickly recognized the change because she had above-average magic sensing abilities among S-Class Hunters.
“I need to take that one out first…….”
But timing to turn around wasn’t good.
Seo Esther realized she was standing on the softly textured body of that silky monster, having inadvertently decorated the road with all the butterflies she killed.
“Uh-oh.”
Cause and effect.
Slip.
The second-ranked Hunter in Korea let out a sound of weakness as she fell.
As she stumbled and collapsed, the dungeon boss seemed to have waited for this moment to gather energy for an attack…….
‘I was so fond of that coat.’
Even if the opponent was an A-Class monster, there was no way she would die from the attack.
But Esther was irritated, predicting that her clothing would be damaged and scrunched her nose in annoyance.
– Splash, splash, splash.
If the battlefield hadn’t been filled with monster limbs all around.
At the very least, she would have reconsidered upon hearing this footstep.
Flash!
Change happened in the blink of an eye.
Not a metaphor, but rather she simply closed her eyes before falling and opened them again only to find the situation had turned around.
Shiny shoes.
A suit that was neatly tailored.
…And a pair of black leather gloves she had never seen before.
As she regained her vision, what lay before her wasn’t the monster’s beam, but just basic information like this.
“Seo Esther Hunter.”
A voice resonated.
“What are you doing here? Did you come back to work despite saying you were on vacation?”
The man in front of her spoke in a tone that was slightly brighter than usual.
She hadn’t contacted him since hearing that he was going to the Tokyo Artifact Expo….
Honestly, she didn’t know the reasons well, but anyway, Kim Gi-ryeo seemed to be in good spirits today.
After all, how could even an S-Class Hunter stand completely unscathed against the terrifying force of the flying monster’s beam…….
‘As if he erased it completely.’
How could he be fine after blocking it head-on?
“Did you hurt your ankle?”
Looking again, the blond Hunter was holding his gloved hand up like a shield against the sunlight.
But as Esther remained unable to rise from her slippery position, he naturally shifted his right hand’s role.
As if to say, “Hold on and get up.”
So Esther grasped it, slowly raising her body with a wobble.
For some reason, Gi-ryeo’s eyes were filled with a sense of melancholy as if saying, ‘I can’t use my Awakening skills in a public place……’ and upon hearing that, she showed understanding and continued on.
Flap.
Flap.
By the time the surrounding monsters were all dealt with thanks to the curse skill.
“Mr. Gi-ryeo.”
Esther first asked a question, skipping over polite words of thanks for him coming today as her schedule was free or for helping her.
“But how did you get into this restricted area?”
I wondered how an outsider had entered since a barrier was set.
Just a moment ago, Kim Gi-ryeo, who seemed oddly elated as if his plans for the day were successful, suddenly turned distant in his gaze and answered.
“Well, normally, monster barriers…….”
“Huh?”
Kim Gi-ryeo’s attitude was pessimistic.
That’s because they had utilized the method from the [Baron Hwa-won] incident to enter the battle area.
In simpler terms.
He was perceived just as dust entering a loosely constructed human barrier.
“No, I just came in easily because the ins and outs were different. I plan to ask to remove the barrier when I leave…….”
The man in a suit raised his left hand to discreetly wipe his eyes.
Still, wiping away tears with gloves worth billions felt better than with bare hands.
*
In any case, how am I supposed to reveal this fact in front of a real S-Class Hunter?
‘Am I just dust……?’
While Kim Gi-ryeo was pressing his forehead down to extinguish a rising headache.
‘It wasn’t a mistake. Indeed, those aren’t standard gloves.’
Esther’s interest piqued at this new element.
Specifically, she finally focused on the fact that Kim Gi-ryeo was wearing gloves.
‘Nice!’
After all, no accessory goes better with a suit than gloves.
Furthermore, the vintage leather material added a touch of cleanliness to his attire.
‘But why did such a sensible guy wear that ragged old sweatshirt back then?’
As she was cleaning the road ruined by the monster corpses, she spotted the sign for [Taste Good Outings Chicken & Pizza] from a nearby store.
Esther’s face turned sour like she had bitten into something bitter as she stared at it blankly.
This didn’t last long.
“Anyway, thanks for coming out here to help.”
He had gone out of his way to block the boss monster’s attack directly with care.
Seo Esther made sure to express her gratitude.
But the blond man shrugged nonchalantly.
‘If I mention that I came here to test new equipment amidst this warm moment, it would definitely ruin the mood, right?’
Would it just ruin the mood?
The truth was, despite having discovered this incident earlier using the fact that his internal magic was depleted, he had pretended not to notice and wandered around.
If Esther, the S-Class female Hunter, found out that he was playing dead, his teeth would genuinely get knocked out.
“Isn’t it a hassle to find all the monster magic stones one by one?”
“Oh my.”
“Should I mark their positions for you? I’m good at finding magic stones. After all, I have a [Emotion] skill.”
The man in the suit momentarily hesitated, mumbling.
And then he subtly began to help Esther with her work.
“I’ll handle it quickly. You just rest!”
Thinking about it, not only had he helped her with the laziness she had just described.
Seo Esther had been frequently supported materially and physically by him during the previous Kang Chang-ho incident.
Thus, Kim Gi-ryeo thought.
‘Because of the last help I gave, I now owe nothing substantial to that primitive Curse Mage.’
Esther’s emotional scars should have lowered significantly by now.
So, he decided to bend over backward to win her favor from scratch again.
“……”
In the face of someone’s clever actions.
The woman with the purple hair made a completely different judgment.
‘Oppa seemed to think that I was getting rather close with that Hunter.’
More precisely, a thought arose.
‘To be honest, right at this moment, it feels ambiguous to introduce him as a friend…….’
Despite being very cordial on the surface, Esther actually didn’t think of him that way.
Oh, my younger sibling finally has a close industry associate!
It would be shocking news for someone holding such an optimistic hope, but Esther didn’t feel much intimacy toward the man in front of her.
To express it accurately, it was closer to the feeling of not being able to feel such an emotion.
For someone with an innate temperament problem, they have far lesser control over anger than others.
How could she comfortably regard a violent human, especially one who shows peculiar immunity to curses?
‘Hmm.’
He just blocked the boss Morpho’s beam in one go, so maybe he’s a defensive type?
Or after going toe-to-toe with Kang Chang-ho, he trampled on him instead, so is he enhancing his physique?
But whatever the Awakening property is, whenever Esther sees a fellow countryman she cannot fully wield, she strangely felt a peculiar tension.